The summer of 2024 is going to be an exciting one for football fans. Unlike most years, where the fanatics are starved of action in the June-July period when the off-season kicks in, that won’t be the case this year due to Euro 2024 and the Copa America 2024.
Both tournaments will keep fans entertained as the domestic campaign takes the rest, and we’ll also get to see some of the world’s best players face off against each other in these prestigious international tournaments. Of course, more matches also mean more kits to design for the national teams.
While the Euro 2024 and Copa America edition kits for the teams were released well in advance, some of the ‘alternate attires’ are now starting to roll out. Be it the pre-match training kits or suits for players to wear when travelling for matches, some unique attires has been on display for the major international nations heading into the busy summer.
Argentina
The defending World Champions, Argentina, are on a mission to retain their Copa America title in Uruguay. The Lionel Messi-led side are the odds-on favorite to clinch the championship again due to the sheer strength of their squad. Adidas has been the Argentine side’s trusted shirt sponsors since 2001 and they have also designed some attractive kits for Copa America 2024.
But the design that really stands out is the Adidas-designed warm-up shirt for the Argentine players to wear before matches. The World Champions debuted their new training kit before their 1-0 win over Ecuador in a friendly game on Sunday (June 9) ahead of the start of Copa America.
It is a deep blue kit which has a light blue shape with black patterns all over the middle. On top of this unique patterns are their three stars, which signify their three FIFA World Cup titles. There is no Adidas logo that can be seen here, but the AFA logo with three golden stars is inscribed inside one of the deep blue stars.
Luckily for Argentine fans around the globe, this new warm-up jersey is available in online retail stores. It’s there for the taking on FIFA’s online store for around £85 (plus extra in shipping costs). Going by how impressed most fans look to be with it, this kit is likely to sell like hot cakes.
England
The England national team has the aspirations of millions of fans on their shoulders as they jet over to Germany for Euro 2024. The Three Lions have NEVnevern the European Championship, but seeing the quality of players at their disposal, they are among the favorites to go all the way this time around.
The England Euro kits have long been released a lot of fans also seem to be buying them for cheap. But before the squad travelled to Germany, the entire 26-man England squad had to partake in an official squad photo – which is a bit of a custom for any England team that travels for a major tournament.
A picture with Gareth Southgate in the middle shows the England players wearing semi-formal attires for the occasion. All the players (and Southgate) are wearing white round-neck t-shirts. However, some of the players have complemented the t-shirt with black pants, a black jacket and black and white shoes. The others are wearing tan-colored pants, shoes and jackets to complete the ‘black and tan’ shade for the picture.
Of course, these attires were custom-made by Marks & Spencers for the English players and Southgate but haven’t really been able impress that many fans. Most fans have voiced their dislike are striving away from the classic black and white suit that footballers put on for such pictures and that only Southgate is probably ‘old enough’ to wear an attire like this.
Italy
Unlike the England squad, the Italian federation decided to go with a more old-school look for the Italy stars to wear in the squad photo. The defending European champions are under pressure to silence their critics with a strong showing in the competition, where they’ve been placed in a group with Spain and Croatia.
The Italian team decided to partner up with Emporio Armani and allow them to design their attires for the official squad photo. The Italian designers have stitched together a bunch of suits for the players and Luciano Spaletti’s coaching staff.
The dress code for the Italy squad shoot is a white shirt and black pants combo with a black tie. The suits are in a lighter purple shade with a front pocket, in front of which the Italia logo with four stars (for the World Cup titles won) on top of it.
However, this design is also attracting a lot of criticism from fans. Some are complaining that the suits aren’t actually fitting the players that well and how basic the designs really are. The Italy and England teams seem to have had a bit of a fail in their pre-Euro activities, but they’ll hope to make up by performing strongly in Germany to potentially set up a repeat of the Euro 2020 final and fight for the championship once again.
